The configuration of an enclosure in a data storage system, more specifically of the enclosure's components, such as its midplane, control boards and disk drive modules, is tied closely to the particular protocol or standard used to communicate between the control boards and the disk drives modules. Each type of protocol has its own signaling convention and unique set of signals, such as high-speed data, control and status signals. These signals travel over signal paths or traces on the midplane connecting the control boards to the disk drives modules. Typically, this midplane is designed or “tuned” to perform optimally with the control boards, disk drive modules, and signals unique to that protocol, a procedure that is laborious and open to error. As a result, enclosures in a data storage system are effectively fixed to the type of protocol being employed. For example, a midplane tuned for use in a Fibre Channel (FC) enclosure cannot be used in an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) enclosure operating according to the ATA standard, in a Gigabit Ethernet enclosure operating according to a 1 Gbps Ethernet standard, or in a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) environment.
This close relationship between the protocol and the enclosure's midplane hinders users from changing an enclosure designed to operate according to one protocol to operate according to a different protocol. Whereas substituting new disk drive modules into the front slots of an enclosure and replacing control boards through the rear side of the enclosure are relatively easy to perform, replacing or retuning a midplane often requires the burdensome task of disassembling the enclosure itself. This laborious process discourages what should be a routine procedure, namely, updating an enclosure to operate at a faster speed, such as migrating from 1 Gbps Fibre Channel system to a 2 Gbps Fibre Channel system, because this change affects the tuning of the midplane. There remains, therefore, a need for a data storage system enclosure that is midplane-independent so that users can update or change the enclosure without incurring the above-described disadvantages.